South Alabama wraps up spot in Sun Belt baseball tournament with sweep

MOBILE, Alabama -- South Alabama's chances of reaching the Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament were in jeopardy before Sunday's doubleheader against Western Kentucky.

The Jaguars, however, can now finalize their May 23rd reservations for Bowling Green, Ky., after sweeping the Hilltoppers 4-1 and 8-7 at Eddie Stanky Field on Senior Day.

USA (20-31, 14-13) moved into fourth place in the league standings, clinching a spot in the tournament regardless of the outcome of this week's final regular-season series at Troy.

South Alabama could lose all three games and still make the field because of its series wins over Louisiana-Lafayette and WKU, now tied for ninth. The top eight teams qualify for the tournament.

"This was a long day and I'm proud of the guys for the way they responded," USA coach Mark Calvi said. "It got a little sketchy there at the end out of the pen, but we had to win and the guys had to grind through it."

The Jaguars appeared to have a comfortable 8-3 lead heading into the last two innings of the finale only to see the Hilltoppers (21-30, 11-16) make things interesting by scoring two runs off reliever James Traylor.

The left-handed freshman gave up consecutive singles and a walk with two outs to load the bases. He then walked in a run and was replaced by Dillon Buhrkuhl who promptly plunked Ryan Hutchison with a pitch to force in another run and make it 8-5.

The ninth inning became even more dramatic when USA closer closer Kyle Bartsch replaced Buhrkuhl with two outs and yielded an RBI single to Jared Andreoli. Bartsch then issued back-to-back walks, forcing in another run before getting Hutchison to fly out to right with the bases loaded to end the game.

"Bartsch is our best 'pen guy and we needed to win," Calvi said of using his closer twice on Sunday. "He threw 24 pitches Friday and threw 23 in the first game. If he had thrown 40 in the first game, he wouldn't be in there.

"We discussed before the game about doing it and he said he was fine with it. He said he felt great and was ready to go. I wouldn't make a habit of doing that, but when you've got to win you got to have your guy out there."

Bartsch earned his second save of the day and helped USA starter Payton Gardner (1-5) pick up his first victory. Gardner worked 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on five hits before giving way to Traylor in the top of the sixth.

South Alabama built the big lead by scoring two runs in first, four in the fourth, and two in the seventh. Jordan Patterson had a three-run double in the fourth and Nolan Earley hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

"We had some clutch hits and we needed every one of those runs," Calvi said. "We did enough to win by one run."

Outstanding pitching by right-handed starter Jarron Cito and Bartsch highlighted USA's victory in the first game. The duo held WKU without a hit in the last five innings.

Cito (7-4) worked seven innings, limited the Hilltoppers to four hits, struck out nine and walked three in picking up his fifth win in his last six starts. Bartsch retired six of the seven batters he faced to record his ninth save.

The Jaguars gave Cito all the runs he needed when they scored twice off Hilltoppers starter Tim Bado (4-6) in the second inning. USA loaded the bases on a single and two walks before Graham Odom delivered a two-run single up the middle for a 2-1 advantage.

South Alabama made it 3-1 in the third inning on Whitt Dorsey's double to left and Patterson's RBI triple to right-center.

Earley accounted for USA's final run with a solo home run in the eighth inning.

The Jaguars close the regular season with a three-game series at Troy starting Thursday at 6 p.m.